Was there a plan to help Julian Assange escape to Russia?

[DonViejo]

By JAMES GORDON MEEK, SEAN LANGAN AICHA EL HAMMAR CASTANO Sep 28, 2018, 4:22 AM ET

The latest round in WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange's intensifying drama during the six years he's spent inside Ecuador's embassy in London involves allegations the government in Quito tried to give him diplomatic status last year in a plan to help him flee to Russia.

Documents reviewed and authenticated by ABC News in Quito show that the Ecuadorian government gave Assange diplomatic credentials and diplomatic immunity in order to allow him to leave their London embassy without fear of arrest by British police and take up a post in Russia.

“There was a ministerial agreement to make Assange a diplomat in Moscow,” Paola Vintimilla, an opposition politician in Ecuador who first revealed the Quito files, told ABC News Thursday. “It was days after he received the naturalization.” But like allegations by special counsel Robert Mueller that WikiLeaks helped the Kremlin's fake internet persona "Guccifer 2.0" distribute embarrassing emails hacked from the Democratic Party in an effort to tilt the 2016 U.S. election in Donald Trump's favor, the truth is difficult to pin down because of denials by Assange's supporters that he planned to flee to Russia.

A Dec. 19, 2017, directive from the Foreign Ministry in Quito, which officials in Quito confirmed, stated that Assange would be posted as a counselor at the Ecuadorian embassy in Moscow. Because the British government would not accept his diplomatic credentials, however, Assange was not able to take up the post.

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https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/plan-julian-assange-escape-russia/story?id=58134811

[Blue_true]

1. Assange has big supporters right here on DU.

Those supporters REALLY need to reconsider what they are supporting.

[Cha]

4. What are they doing on DU supporting this crap?..

Jane Mayer was very busy this weekend - yes, the Russians stole the election for Trump

snip//

(Julian Assange, the head of WikiLeaks, has denied working with the Russian government, but he manifestly despises Clinton, and, in a leaked Twitter direct message, he said that in the 2016 election “it would be much better for GOP to win.”)

There he is with his buddy now.. wonder when that was taken?

https://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=11172146

[Blue_true]

7. Most if not all honestly believe that governments should not try to hide information from their

citizens. Where they trip themselves up is in understanding that con artists like Assange take advantage of those feelings to create havoc and promote the very opposite of open government.

[Nitram]

9. Look, I thought Assange and Wikileaks were doing the world a service when they leaked information

about attacks on civilians in Iraq during the Bush administration. We didn't yet know that he was working for the Russians against the US. Many of us thought Assange was on our side at the time. We were wrong, but you can't blame us for thinking he was one of the good guys.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

2. I have a feeling that Russia is a place to escape FROM, ...

... not a place to escape TO.

[Cha]

5. Unless you're Assange and Snowden.

[Blue_true]

8. Exactly. Criminals that help Putin are welcome there.

The young spy, Anna Chapman got exchanged from prison back to Russia, now she is a mega rich celebrity there.

[Blue_Tires]

3. LOL

Link to tweet

[Cha]

6. Thanks, B_T

[struggle4progress]

10. Note to self: always get diplomatic status BEFORE jumping bail